by Anna Tsogyal

Since there have been some rumours that Alan Ball is interested in Buddhism it seemed that it might be a good idea to have a look at some of the True Blood symbolism from a Tibetan Buddhist point of view.

There’s a great Tibetan image called the Wheel of Life that sums all the emotions and attitudes that lead to suffering.

The outer rim shows the cycle that leads from ignorance to old age and death.

The spokes of the wheel divide it into six different worlds.

In the middle circle or hub of the wheel are three animals.

The cock represents greed, the snake hatred, and the pig ignorance.

These three animals sum up the negative emotions that cause suffering and their symbols can been found in True Blood as an image on a wall, on a poster or even as someone’s name.

The cock of greed means that people are driven by lust and desire.

The pig means ignorance, the inability to see the truth about people or situations.

The snake drives people through hatred and anger to do evil things.

It’s possible that these animals could sum up the main driving forces behind each season, the cock Season 1, the pig Season 2, and the snake Season 3.

For Sookie this could mean that in Season 1 she is driven by her lust for Bill, in Season 2 by her ignorance about his true motives, and in Season 3 her anger and hatred leads her to stake Lorena.

As long as she is trapped by these negative emotions she will continue to suffer.

There is a way out of this continual round of the wheel but she would need to change her life style and develop some wisdom and awareness.